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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (C) participates in the traditional Quds Day rally in the capital Tehran on March 13, 2026. [Fatemeh Bahrami – Anadolu Agency]
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had not requested a ceasefire or negotiations.
In an interview with CBS News, Araghchi said: “We have never asked for a ceasefire and we have not even asked for negotiations.”
He added that Iran was prepared to defend itself “for as long as it takes” until Donald Trump is convinced that “the war is illegitimate and there is no victory in it.”
“We are strong enough and see no reason to talk to the Americans,” he said.
Araghchi also said Iran was targeting “only American assets, American facilities and American military bases”.
He added that territory in Gulf countries was being used to launch attacks on Iran, saying there were “many examples” of this.
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United States President Donald Trump departs the White House en route to Hebron, Kentucky in Washington DC, United States, on March 11, 2026. [Celal Güneş – Anadolu Agency]
President Trump is not only failing to learn from history. He is also failing to learn from what is happening right now.
This was not a small tactical mistake. Trump walked into a war with no exit plan, then realised too late that Iran had set the battlefield for a war of exhaustion, not a quick victory. Washington is now stuck between two costly choices: it cannot pull back because that would look like failure, and it cannot go deeper because that risks a long war with no guaranteed results.
As the war moves into its third week, harder questions are rising inside Washington: what does “victory” even mean; and how can it be achieved while Iran still holds the strongest pressure point in this confrontation: the Strait of Hormuz?
The Strait of Hormuz is Trump’s weak point
Trump’s biggest miscalculation was believing that firepower alone could force Iran to surrender before Iran turned Hormuz into a global pressure tool. Reality is different. Control of the strait is not an American decision. It is an Iranian one.
And the worst part is that disruption does not require a large army in the traditional sense. One incident, one strike (by an Iranian soldier on a small boat, with an RPG on his shoulder), or even a rise in perceived risk can panic markets and push up oil prices, shipping insurance, and transport costs.
That puts Washington in a double trap:
If it declares “mission accomplished” and withdraws while Hormuz is still under threat, it will look like it lost the war economically.
If it escalates to force the strait open, it enters a wider war with higher costs and no clear guarantees.
The Israeli promise that pulled Washington into trouble
A major part of the trap was set before the first strike. The war was built on an Israeli assumption: if Iran’s top leadership is hit, the state will collapse and the public will rise in the streets to bring down the system. This was sold to Trump as a shortcut: one decisive blow, rapid internal collapse, and political change without a long war.
That assumption failed. The system did not collapse, and the streets did not explode as expected. Iran reorganized leadership quickly and blocked any political vacuum that outsiders were counting on. This has also created tension inside the alliance. Washington wants to focus on Iran and Hormuz. Israel pushes to widen the war, including major escalation in Lebanon. That spreads military and political effort and raises the cost.
The Gulf wants a quick win, but the war is not in Trump’s hands
Some Gulf states want a fast end; on Washington and Tel Aviv’s terms; because they see that as the return of stability and manageable energy prices. That creates political pressure on Trump to intensify strikes.
But more strikes do not solve the Hormuz problem. Firepower can destroy targets, but it cannot restore market confidence overnight, and it cannot stop Iran from keeping the strait under constant risk.
Worse still, a prolonged war may open other maritime fronts, such as Bab al-Mandab. That would mean the crisis moves from one chokepoint to another; from one shock to the next.
Conflicting goals: Open Hormuz or SOLVE the nuclear file?
Washington is now trying to achieve two competing goals:
Secure the Strait of Hormuz enough to calm markets. And,
Deal with nuclear materials and enriched uranium stored in complex, fortified sites.
But talk of a “quick solution” to the nuclear issue points to dangerous scenarios: forces on the ground, technical operations, long timelines, and huge risks. This brings Washington back to the same problem: Trump entered expecting a short campaign, then found himself facing a war that demands costs he does not want to pay.
The real exhaustion: Weapons, defenses, and endless involvement
A war is not measured only by how many strikes are launched. It is measured by what is burned each day: air defences, expensive ammunition, and the political room to keep going.
As attacks continue, the key questions become: can Washington sustain this pace? Can its allies absorb the economic and security backlash?
Iran, meanwhile, is betting on time. It does not need to defeat the US militarily. It only needs to keep the war going long enough to turn it into a global burden: higher oil prices, higher inflation, weaker investment, and a political crisis inside Washington that cannot be covered by victory speeches.
Therefore, Trump entered a war with no exit
Trump fell into Iran’s trap because he bet on a quick collapse that never happened, and he tried to “close the file” by force without having the tools to close it. Now he faces a clear dilemma:
He cannot declare victory while Hormuz remains under pressure.
He cannot end the war without concessions, guarantees, or a settlement.
And every new escalation risks wider fronts and deeper economic damage.
This is not a war that will be decided by tough speeches. It will be decided by who can carry the cost longer. Iran, at least so far, is trying to make that cost global, not local, and to show that in this war, economics may be stronger than missiles in deciding when it ends.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
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Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz attends a press conference, held by Israeli Defense Ministry, with senior military officials in Israel on March 12, 2026. [Elad Malka (IMoD) /Handout – Anadolu Agency]
Israel’s defense minister confirmed on Monday that the Israeli military has begun a ground offensive in Lebanon, as regional escalation continues to expand, Anadolu reports.
“The IDF (army) has begun a ground maneuver in Lebanon to remove threats and protect the residents of the Galilee and the north,”Katz said in comments carried by the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper during a situational assessment at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
“Hundreds of thousands of residents of southern Lebanon who have evacuated and are evacuating from their homes will not return to their homes south of the Litani area,” he added.
Katz said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the military to dismantle what he described as “militant infrastructure” in Lebanese villages along the border.
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Government Spokesperson Stefan Kornelius holds a press conference in the capital, Berlin, Germany, on March 9, 2026. [Halil Sağırkaya – Anadolu Agency]
Germany said on Monday that the US war on Iran “has nothing to do with NATO,” Anadolu reports.
“It is not NATO’s war. NATO is a defensive alliance. The German government must also clearly assess the alliance’s territory and its own position on participation in this war,” government spokesman Stefan Kornelius told journalists in Berlin.
“The expansion of combat operations would bear great risks for other partners in the Middle East and Gulf region,” he added.
The German government has repeatedly stated that it would not participate in the US war on Iran.
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A fire and plume of smoke rise after, according to authorities. debris from an intercepted Iranian drone struck an oil facility in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, March 14, 2026
IRAN denied today that it had called on the United States and Israel to cease fire as the war in the Middle East continued to spread death and destruction.
US President Donald Trump claimed on NBC News that Iran had wanted to make a deal to end the US-Israeli assault, but that he had refused to negotiate because “the terms are not good enough yet.”
He did not specify what those terms should be, but he did say that Iran must commit to abandoning its nuclear ambitions, which the two countries were already discussing in high-level talks before the US and Israel launched their surprise attack on February 28.
Iran’s response has been to launch drone and missile strikes on Israel and Persian Gulf states that host US forces or are otherwise allied with Washington, while also blocking ships from sailing through the Strait of Hormuz, halting the follow of fossil fuels and global trade.
At the weekend, Mr Trump called on Britain, France, China and other nations to help reopen the strategic waterway. He claimed today that several countries had committed to do so, but he has yet to name them.
The US president also said that his country’s forces may bomb Kharg Island, where Iran’s most important oil export facilities are located, again “just for fun,” after the US targeted military installations there on Friday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told CBS News: “No, we never asked for a ceasefire and we have never asked even for negotiation. We are ready to defend ourselves as long as it takes.
“There are people being killed only because President Trump wants to have fun.”
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A fire and plume of smoke rise after, according to authorities. debris from an intercepted Iranian drone struck an oil facility in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, March 14, 2026